BOSTON — Once upon a time (alright, it was March), there was a line of thinking that, once you got past Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester at the top of the rotation, the Boston Red Sox's starting pitching was vulnerable. At the time, even those two were a concern.

While Dempster is meeting his lukewarm expectations of a serviceable part of the rotation, Lackey and Doubront have gone above and beyond anything they were expected to produce. Doubront is having his best season as a major leaguer, a feat that somehow seems less impressive than the fact that Lackey has risen from the ashes like a phoenix this year.

Just let this soak in: John Lackey's 3.23 ERA in 2013 is virtually half of what it was in 2011 (6.41). Half.

Elsewhere in the rotation, Jon Lester may not be living up to his billing as the staff's No.1b starter, but is still pulling his weight with a line of 10-6, 4.27 ERA, a 1.331 WHIP and, maybe most importantly, 22 starts on the season, which is one off of the MLB lead.

The Red Sox may not have Clay Buchholz back, an elite bullpen or any idea who's going to play third base should the team make the postseason. What they do have is five guys who can go out and win games for them.

Instead of starters 1-5, the Red Sox have a group of 2's and 3's and maybe a really good 4. What they don't have is an overmatched spot starter or exposed rookie coming in every fifth day with the risk of pitching the team out of the victory by the third inning. As talented as Allen Webster is, these types of starts were crippling to the Red Sox earlier in the season.